Broken en-suite in rented property

clos

Hi All,

Hope this is the right place for my question. After a bit of advice.

Moved into a rented property about 6 weeks ago - 2 bedrooms, one with en-suite and a bathroom. Everything had been going fine up until the last bank holiday weekend when the knob that turned the en-suite shower on/off snapped off having gotten progressively tighter over the past couple of days. It looked like it had been previously superglued on so i'm guessing it isn't the first time this problem has arisen.

Reported this to the letting agency on the Tuesday who said they'd get a contractor to come out and investigate. Took 8 days to even receive contact from the contractor and then it was by text. He asked us to see pictures of it, which were sent by picture message and he said he didn't need to come out because new shower parts had to be ordered.

This was relayed back to the letting agency (by us, the contractor didn't bother) who said that it was in fact a new shower that needed ordering and they'd need to get the landlords approval before proceeding. Spoke to them a couple of days ago and they said they would chase the landlord on this as they had received no feedback on this.

Get the feeling that this chasing is going to go on for a while.

Is there anything I can do to force this to be actioned quicker? I'd be surprised if a broken en-suite shower could be left in that state indefinitely when that was one of the key selling points of the property in the first place. It's been in this state for half of the tenancy now!

From what i've read online, threatening to withhold rent is a big no no, but would I be likely to have any joy in asking for a reduction in rent until the problem is fixed? Or perhaps hire a third party to carry out work on my own accord and then have this deducted from future rent payments?

All advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

monty-doggy

If there is a functioning shower in the other bathroom then I wouldn't think they would allow you to DIY and claim it back because to do that it needs to be classed as urgent, however they should still fix it and I would be on the phone daily and getting names of who I spoke to and making it clear I am not going away until you sort this. We had a broken shower over the hottest months of last year and I hounded the LL and got a new one eventually!

[Deleted User]

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/repairs_in_social_housing/withholding_rent_over_repairs

G_M

Have reported this in writing? That means a letter, addressed to the landlord, at the address provided "for the serving of notices"?

If not, doso.A nice friendly letter explaining the breakage, how it happened (superglue etc) and giving the dates of your various phonecalls/texts etc.

clos

Thanks for the speedy responses.

There is a functioning shower in the main bathroom, but this is lower than waist height and requires you to hold it above your head if you want to actually shower using it.

I haven't put anything in writing other than emails to the letting agency. Would writing a letter to the landlord c/o the letting agency be the next avenue to take?

monty-doggy

Yes that's what I would do. And stress that you are paying for renting a property that should include a functioning shower! And send it recorded delivery so they know you know if they received it or not!

DRP

clos wrote: »

Thanks for the speedy responses.

There is a functioning shower in the main bathroom, but this is lower than waist height and requires you to hold it above your head if you want to actually shower using it.

I haven't put anything in writing other than emails to the letting agency. Would writing a letter to the landlord c/o the letting agency be the next avenue to take?

best policy is to do what GM recommended:

G_M wrote: »

...a letter, addressed to the landlord, at the address provided "for the serving of notices"...

Send a copy to the agency at the same time. Get proof of postage (free).

That way, no one can claim they didn't know what was happening.

dgtazzman

Is this a power shower, or a normal shower. The thermostat knob on our normal shower went last year, just got a new shower mixer off Ebay for under a tenner and fitted that myself in around 10 minutes flat. Saved the hassle of having to go through LA/LL for the sake of a few quid and got a replacement of my choice that looks better than the original to boot.